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Metalogix International GmbH, the Washington D.C.-based maker of cloud migration, security, and management solutions, has introduced a new software-as-a-service platform designed to help channel pros and businesses centrally administer multiple collaboration systems.

Called Conent.ly, the new offering provides a single interface through which technicians can administer content in Office 365, Dropbox, Box, Google for Work, and other widely used collaboration tools. No other vendor currently provides that kind of unified support for multiple solutions, according to Adam Levithan, director of product management at Metalogix.

“There are competitors out there that are aligned for one cloud collaboration tool. What we do is apply it to any we connect to,” he says.

More an environment than a specific solution, Content.ly provides access to apps for functions like migration, synchronization, backup, archiving, and securing sensitive content. Users can pick and choose which of those apps they use. Pricing models will vary from one app to the next, but generally run about $1 per user per month.

Metalogix plans to release Content.ly components on a rolling basis starting today. Third-party developers can also utilize APIs to create apps of their own that tap into the product’s underlying core services, and then distribute those products via the Content.ly app store.

According to Metalogix, the average business presently uses 4.6 online collaboration and content management solutions, many of which house confidential information and files subject to data privacy regulations. Content.ly aims to give administrators a central point of control over all those systems

It also seeks to provide a safe, effective means of coping with solutions purchased by end users without authorization. Rather than fighting a losing battle to ban such “shadow IT” deployments, Levithan says, companies can manage them through Content.ly instead.

Metalogix views the new system as a fit for small businesses and large enterprises alike, but expects the most avid users to be organizations eager to mitigate security and compliance risks for their employees and customers while still empowering those people to use the tools of their choice.

“They want to take control back without impeding the work that their end users are doing,” he says.

Businesses looking to lower administrative overhead by using one console to administer all of their content repositories, rather than a series of point solutions, will also find Content.ly appealing, Levithan adds.

Founded in 2001, Metalogix currently has 400 employees doing business from 10 global offices in 86 countries. In April, it launched a joint venture with Microsoft aimed at migrating on-premises Microsoft SharePoint users to SharePoint Online. According to Levithan, Content.ly represents an evolution of the company’s business model, which has emphasized stand-alone systems for moving, managing, and protecting data up until now.

“In the past, our portfolio of solutions honestly has been separate solutions. They’ve never been combined into one,” he says. “This is going to allow all of the knowledge we’ve had in the past to be put together.”

At present, partners can embed Content.ly apps in a website or client-facing portal, but not attach their own logo to those services. Levithan says full white-label branding will be available sometime in the future, however.

Get an edge on the competition

With each issue packed full of powerful news, reviews, analysis, and advice targeting IT channel professionals, ChannelPro-SMB will help you cultivate your SMB customers and run your business more profitably.